The document discusses arguments for the existence of God from a philosophical perspective. It examines the teleological, ontological, and cosmological arguments put forth by thinkers like Paley, Anselm, and Aquinas. While each argument provides a logical case, they also have limitations and do not prove God's existence with certainty. The author believes logic and phenomena like the origin of the universe, life, and encoded information in DNA point to an intelligent creator. As a Muslim, the author finds the religious conception of an all-powerful, all-knowing, omnipresent, and absolute God who exists outside of time and space to be consistent with this logical perspective.

1. Institute of Administrative Sciences
Philosophy Assignment
Submitted by Submitted to
Isma Khalid Sir Ghalib Atta
Roll no. BS-IAS-31R-F18
Section A
HOW DO I KNOW WHETHER GOD EXIST?

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HOW DO I KNOWWHETHER GOD EXIST?
Question: How do I know whether God exist?
Man is always curious to know about the things, he didn’t know . He keeps on questioning
various phenomenon of nature like origin of universe , presence of a higher-being etc. To prove
the existence of a Creator , suppose that , there is nothing at all in a certain area and then a living
being appeared alive , it will not make any sense , because this thinking will have no rational
answer. Everything has a cause of its occurrence . Same is the case of this universe . This
universe cant create itself because for something to create, it must be already existing; but for it
to be created, it must not be existed before . The idea of something creating itself is self-
contradictory. So , there must be a Higher-being , Who created this universe .
Different philosophers have given arguments on existence of God.
1) Teleological argument
2) Ontological argument
3) Cosmological argument
1)Teleological argument by William Paley:
Teleological argument also called intelligent design argument because it attempts to prove the
existence of God through concept of design. This argument is also named as “analogical
argument” at some places because in this argument creation of universe is compared to making
of a watch . In his argument , he says that if he finds a stone at some place he would might think
that stone had been there from ever. But if he finds a watch on ground , he would perceive that
different parts of watch are framed together for a specific purpose which conducts the motion in
a specific manner .The parts are made of different material based on their function and position .
This design suggests that there must be someone who has the knowledge and understanding of
making a watch for a specific purpose. But we don’t know the agency who made it and also the
mechanism which was used to made it. This watch always works the way , its designed to be
worked. It cant be an accidental combination of materials present at that place. There exist no
principle of order in parts to connect in a specific manner to make a watch . It can only be the
intelligence of a watchmaker , which can make parts connect. So , this complex universe with
specific design is certainly the result of an Intelligent-being .Paley’s argument make us believe
that just as watches, which exhibit complexity and purpose to tell the time are made by

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HOW DO I KNOWWHETHER GOD EXIST?
watchmaker , this universe which has complexity and the purpose has a Creator . He used
analogy that makes it comprehensible to us . The argument moves from a watch which is within
our experience to try to explain something beyond it i.e. the creation of the universe. But it has
many loopholes . Teleological argument only gives the probability of existence of God .
Moreover, natural objects are different from man-made objects . It doesn’t tell that whether there
is one God or more. The questions like whether many gods have made this universe by effort of
many centuries or a single all-knowing spiritual being created it, still remain unanswered.
2) Ontological Argument by Saint Anselm :
Ontological argument is that uses ontology which is philosophical study of being. Anselm
imagines that he is arguing with a fool who denies the existence of God . The argument started
with two assumptions :
i) God is Someone that nothing greater than Him can be thought .
ii) Existence is superior than non-existence .
When the fool agreed to these assumptions , he is convinced that there exist something in
understanding , at least, than which nothing greater can be thought . That thing exists in his
understanding . As a painter has a understanding of what he is going to perform and when he
made the painting he has understand that it exists. God is the greatest thing we can imagine
.Things can exist only in our imaginations or they can also exist in reality . Things that exist in
reality are better than things that exist only in our imaginations. If God existed in our
imaginations , he wouldn’t be the greatest thing that we can imagine , because God in reality
would be better . Therefore , God must exist.
This argument is logically satisfying . The assumptions fully support the idea that a God must
exist. It also shows that God is not only the designer but also identifies that He is bigger than this
whole universe .But it also has many loopholes. Ontological argument is based on assumptions
not on principles . If we don’t agree to assumptions, the whole argument will be proved wrong .
If you can imagine something , for example , unicorns, it doesn’t mean they exist . It gives no
evidence to existence of God.

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HOW DO I KNOWWHETHER GOD EXIST?
3)Cosmological Arguments by Saint Thomas Aquinas :
Aquinas gave four cosmological arguments to prove the existence of God:
i) Argument from motion:
According to this argument, we live in a world in which things are moving . Movement is
caused by movers . Moving things must have been set into motion by something else that was
moving. Something must have started the motion . There must be a first mover, itself unmoved ,
and that first mover is God.
ii) Argument from causation:
This argument says that anything that caused has to be caused by something else because
nothing causes itself. There must have been a first causer.
iii) Argument from contingency :
This argument is based on difference between necessary-being and contingent-being . Contingent
beings can be caused by other contingent-beings ,but the first contingent-being must be caused
by a Necessary being. Necessary being refers to a being who always existed and will exist.
iv) Argument from degrees:
We measure properties of things in degrees. For example, if we say something is small, we say
this because we know a relative big thing . Same is the case of perfection . To measure the
degrees of perfection , there must be a perfect-being . The idea of cause and effect has potential
to convince the reader that there must exist a causer of everything . Whether it’s the first atom of
the universe or first living being , they all are due to a Necessary-being . It also relates to
Newton’s first law of motion. But it has many loopholes. The uncaused cause defined in the
argument may not be a religious event, it might be simply Big Bang . If Big Bang was natural ,
this argument would be failed.

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HOW DO I KNOWWHETHER GOD EXIST?
In my opinion, if there was any God existing, he would be existing from ever, even before big
bang . Stephen Hawking in his book , A Briefer History of Time , says that “ Time is a property
only of the universe that God created .” This statement shows that , if God has created a universe
with time , God must be existing before time . Our research is just limited to the boundaries of
time, we even can’t explain , when exactly the time began . So, we can’t say with surety that
whether God exist or not. He can be or cannot be. At this point ,there is 50-50 probability of His
existence. The question that arises at this point is , if everything existing has a beginning , then
God must have a beginning . But God was even before time and space , and the “Beginning”
word is limited to a universe with time boundaries , so God is the only uncreated-being or He
has no beginning. He is from ever , even before the boundaries of time. The next argument is that
, if there is a God, who created a mountain ,He must be big enough to lift the mountain. So, for a
God to create a whole universe , he must be bigger enough to lift and place the whole universe,
but we even don’t exactly know the vastness of our universe , how can we perceive the existence
of a God Who is the Biggest-being ever. If we leave the debate of perceiving God to science , it
just looks as we are lighting a candle to see the sun. The case cant be bought into a laboratory
for experimentation, as God is Someone who was even before the histories of time began . Even
the research of historic events is regarded as pseudo-science by Karl Popper , how can an event
even before the history be proved by science.
But we can prove his existence by using our logic. The main event which is thought to be
Supernatural by theist and natural by atheist is creation of this universe. Big Bang theory is
supported by some scientist while others deny it. My argument is that , if Big Bang ,explosion of
a single dense point, occurred naturally, what caused the planets to be different. Why there is
difference between their gravity and composition? The next phenomenon is origin of life. Origin
of life is explained as spontaneous birth of a simple living being in hot spring of water from non-
living matter. Even if I agree to the statement , I cant find such an Intelligent non-living thing ,
which is able to make DNA and could encode information to make organs which have to
perform complex functions like respiration which even non-living thing cant do itself. There
must be an Intelligent-being Who encoded the information in DNA. To encode the information
with such an accuracy , God must have to exist. Not only the God created this vast universe and
complex life, but he also made the laws by which whole universe is bounded.

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HOW DO I KNOWWHETHER GOD EXIST?
Being a Muslim, I believe in the existence of God. Not because I consider that the religion to
which I belong is superior and I should have blind faith in it , but the concept of God given by
my religion satisfies my logic. Following are some attributes of God defined by my religion and
my logical arguments :
Self-existence: The most common argument given against the self-existence of God is that ,if
everything in this universe has a cause as stated by cosmological argument, then God should also
has a cause. My argument is that this law of causation is limited to our universe with time and
space. But God is out of this universe ,time and space , so this law can’t be applicable to Him
Omnipotence :
Omnipotent refers to someone who is all powerful. A God who has created everything must be
all-powerful . There is nothing which He can’t accomplish.
Omniscience:
As teleological argument says that if watchmaker makes a watch, he must have knowledge of
functioning of different parts of the watch. If everything in this universe is made by God ,He
must knows the functioning of everything in this world ,which means God is all-knowing.
Omnipresent:
As God is biggest-being , even bigger than our universe ,He must be present everywhere in the
universe, even beyond the boundaries of universe defined by us.
Spiritual Being:
As the above arguments says that God is everywhere, if God is physical , there would be no
space left for any other thing in the universe ,which means that God is Spiritual-Being.

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HOW DO I KNOWWHETHER GOD EXIST?
Absoluteness:
DNA coding has the information about making of proteins and physical structure of our bodies.
If God doesn’t have physical body ,he must not has genetic makeup or DNA ,which means that
He has no parent or son as also mentioned in Quran.